Head coach of South Africa, Desiree Ellis has congratulated Nigeria after they defeated her wards 4-3 on penalties in the final of the 2018 Africa Cup of Nations (AWCON) at the Accra Sports Stadium on Saturday night.
Dubbed revenge or repeat by football pundits, the game was highly entertaining living up to its pre-match hype.
With nothing to separate both teams even after extra time, there came the lottery of penalties and it was Nigeria who converted four of their kicks as against three for South Africa to win the 2018 Africa Women’s Championship.
Desiree Ellis was quick to show the spirit of sportsmanship despite the disappointing loss to the Super Falcons.
“First of all I will like to congratulate Nigeria for winning the AWCON for a record nine times,” the former Banyana Banyana star enthused after the game.
“They have been a power house of women’s football for quite a while now and continue to dominate.”
The coach commended her team for a great job done against an experienced Nigerian side.
“My team did their best, I mean, we knew that Nigeria was going to come hard at us in the game and they did throughout.
We had some early chances that I think we should have buried, but in all it was a very good exercise for us going into the World Cup. The impact we have made at this competition as a country is immense. Last night our president who is in Argentina called us and spoke to the girls and so did other South African officials.
“The tournament has been very exciting for us as a nation because since we landed, everywhere we went people showed us love and the fans have been amazing so far, just that I feel more can be done to create more awareness for Women’s football in Africa.”
“The journey has been good. We came here with the vision of qualifying for the World Cup because we knew it was now poor never and indeed we achieved that. Winning the trophy will have been a bonus but we gave it our all, but you know that penalty is a game of lottery and we couldn’t capitalize on Nigeria first. So all in all we are content with our tournament here.
